Shania Twain: “I Have Lost the Ability to Sing”

Every once in a while, you’ll see hear a Shania Twain song on the radio, or see her on American Idol, and wonder to yourself, “Huh, shouldn’t she have some new stuff out by now?” It’s been almost 15 years since her world-dominating Come on Over was released, and nearly a full decade since its follow-up Up!, but aside from a new song or two off a Greatest Hits comp, it’s been pretty much radio silence for Shania since then. Finally, thanks to an Entertainment Tonight promo for her new reality series Why Not?, we know the reason why: The girl can’t sing no more.

“I have lost my ability to express myself, and my ability to sing,” said Twain in the ET interview. “I’ve lost it for some reason. I’m not comfortable singing in front of people anymore.” The primary contributing factor? “I was feeling more pressure from my career. It just affected me. I was slowly losing my voice and slowly losing my confidence.” Shania also ties the deterioration of her voice to the breakdown of her marriage to superproducer Jeff “Mutt” Lange, as a result of which she says she “really lost [her] sense of trust, compassion, honesty….forget that, that’s all gone, that’s dead.”

Why Not?, Shania’s new show for OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network, sees the country-pop star traveling the world in an attempt to recapture that which has been lost inside of her. “I want to talk to people who have been through big disappointments, big emotional crisis, deep life struggles,” says Twain. “And I will learn something from that…I will be inspired by other people.” Well, Popdust is certainly rooting for you to get back on track. Carrie and Miranda are fun and all, but they’re not “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” fun.